Protecting Oregon’s beavers and all they uplift

Oregon’s 2025 legislative session united Beaver Believers and water advocates toward a common goal: restoring over 106,000 miles of struggling rivers and streams. The Beaver State has the most miles of impaired waterways nationwide due to sedimentation, high water temperatures, and low dissolved oxygen. Expensive solutions for analysis and remediation have proven impossible to implement at the scale demanded. Fortunately, decades of scientific evidence show the effectiveness of beaver dam complexes in addressing these challenges. Championed by WELC, HB 3932 proposed the affordable, low-tech strategy of supporting natural recovery solutions by closing beaver hunting and trapping in impaired waterways on public lands. The main idea is to give beavers space and time to use their ecosystem engineering talents in places that need it most. In partnership with the Oregon Wildlife Coalition, partner groups, and scientific experts, HB 3932 is now state law—an innovative, encouraging win for Oregon beavers, waterways, and communities. Read more in our press release aquí.